


Scars

by Fullmetal_Bitch



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying, Gen, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Implied/Referenced Suicide, Minor Character Death, Sad Lance (Voltron), Scars, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-22 12:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16598357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fullmetal_Bitch/pseuds/Fullmetal_Bitch
Summary: Lance has a few scars, some old and some new. During a team bonding session, the Paladins talk about one scar and how they got it. Lance is asked about the one scar he never wanted to talk about.Work originally published on FF.net if you wanna check my account over there out: FullmetalBitch





	Scars

Lance groaned as he flopped over the back of the couch and managed to land with his top half lying on Hunk's lap and his toes barely skimming Pidge's thighs. He whined pitifully, capturing Hunk's attention and mustering his best kitten eyes so Hunk would give in and run his fingers through his hair. The Yellow Paladin rolled his eyes, huffed a laugh but did as he was silently begged and Lance just about melted at the touch.

They were nearly four Earth months into their crazy space trip and they were all exhausted. Allura had been running them ragged in between missions and Voltron training by having them work practically all day in the training room, running through various bonding exercises and fighting simulations until even Shiro couldn't take it anymore. It had been over two and a half months since Shiro had sat Allura down and told her that she was going to end up killing them if she didn't let up a little. After three quintents, as Coran called days, where they didn't do anything except recover while Shiro and Allura came to an agreement, they got back into training and Lance almost cried at how much better it was.

They now had a routine where they'd spend the morning running through drills and gladiator fights. Then they'd break for lunch before either hopping in the Lions for bonding or doing hand to hand combat with each other or fighting in a simulation as a team on the ground. The next day would be Voltron training, forming Voltron again and again until their bond was stronger, sometimes fighting the Castle's weapons when they were Voltron. Sometimes Coran would fire upon them while they were trying to form up. Then they'd break for lunch and it would either be more Voltron training if Shiro thought they needed it or they'd go inside for more team-bonding exercises if Shiro thought that was more important. Allura only got a say in which activity that do if Shiro couldn't decide which they needed more. The day after would be team-bonding if they hadn't done it the previous day and free time and chores after lunch. They were encouraged to bond with their Lions in free time or learn Altean or something educational but sometimes they just chilled.

Today was a rare day. As in, Lance could only remember having one other day like this. This was a day where absolutely no one wanted to do anything. Though, Lance supposed it had more to do with the fact that they hadn't had any 'free time' for the past nearly two weeks. They'd come upon a quadrant that was practically fully occupied by the Galra and had spent every dobash they weren't sleeping, eating or training, helping the citizens of whichever unfortunate planet they came across. Lance cringed when he remembered how Blue barely avoided a shot that would've definitely knocked them out the sky by the skin of their mechanical teeth.

He looked over at his team and almost laughed at how casual they all were. Hunk, of course, was basically reclined on the couch and was almost absentmindedly running his fingers through Lance's hair. Pidge was curled up with her tablet, unphased with Lance's feet being right next to her. Lance was half-tempted to annoy her but didn't want to risk the Green Gremlin snapping his toes off or ruining the peace. Shiro is on the other side of Hunk and if Lance tried, he could probably touch him but he didn't. Shiro looked comfortable, reading whatever book Coran had translated onto his tablet for him. Keith was sitting on Shiro's other side, twirling his knife around, staring off into the distance. Allura and Coran were sitting on a separate couch and were quietly going over some things on Allura's tablet.

"We should really be doing some training or bonding exercise." Allura said and almost immediately and in unison Lance, Hunk and Pidge all groaned their disagreeance loudly. Shiro almost smirked at the taken-aback look on Allura's face.

"How about we do a team-bonding exercise right here?" Shiro offered placatingly as a way for Allura to get the training she wanted and for the three youngest Paladin's to not have to move like they obviously wanted.

"What do you suggest, Shiro?" Allura asked, intrigued. Keith looked mildly interested and Shiro tried hard to pretend he couldn't feel Lance's blue eyes burning holes into his skull, as though daring him to make them get up. He thought about what they could do that would result in no one needing to move. Asking questions was the obvious choice but they had to personal enough for Allura to think it was training. So what could he ask them that would be personal but not too personal? He looked at his Galra arm for a moment before he got the idea.

"Scars." He said, looking up at everyone. He had their attention but, judging from a few of their faces, he was going to have to be clearer. "We each tell a story behind one of ours scars. If you don't have a scar, you tell us a story about the funniest way you've gotten hurt." Shiro explained. He thought he saw something flash in Lance and Hunk's eyes but was distracted by Allura clapping excitedly.

"Oh, yes! What a wonderful idea, Shiro!" She exclaimed. Shiro felt his ears turn a little red at the praise. "Why don't you start us off than?" She suggested and Shiro nodded.

"Of course, Princess." He said and thought for a few seconds about which story to tell. "Okay, when I was eight or nine, I was riding my bike down a path in a nearby wooded area. I was with a couple of school friends and we were showing off when I decided to try and jump this fallen tree. I did but I didn't know that there was an old burrow from a fox or something on the other side. My back wheel got stuck and I flew over the handle bars before hitting the ground and snapping my ulna bone. Had to have surgery and a pin put in there." He told them and Lance cackled along with Pidge and Hunk. Shiro grinned at their amusement before Allura and Coran asked what a bike was.

"Oh, how fascinating. I don't know if Altea had anything similar to that." Allura said once she and Coran understood Shiro's and Pidge's explanation. "Who's next?" She asked. Pidge raised her hand.

"I don't really have any scars but I do have a small one on my face from when I got chickenpox one year when I was three because my dick of a brother didn't tell mum he was sick until too late." She said.

"Boring!" Lance declared, poking her with his toes, causing her to growl and shove his foot away from him. He used his other foot to stop her and she launched herself into his lap to punch his arm. Hunk had to separate the two of them, dragging Lance so he was now in between himself and Shiro.

"Pidge, language!" Shiro berated the youngest Paladin who looked completely shameless. He left the three of them to their little squabble to save Keith from having to explain chickenpox to Allura and Coran.

"Human immune systems are weird." Coran declared after being told explained what a chicken was and that, no, they didn't actually cause chickenpox.

"I'll go next." Hunk volunteered once he managed to wrangle Pidge and Lance into acting more their age.

"Tell them about the one on your arm, Hunky-Bear." Lance smirked as Hunk's cheeks started going beet-red.

"Oh, now I gotta know." Pidge cackled, delighted at Hunk's reaction. Keith looked completely unamused.

"I hate you so much." He whispered to Lance.

"No, you don't." Lance said confidently.

"That's true." Hunk said, ruffling the Cuban's hair. "Okay, so it happened just after I met this beanpole-" "Hey!" - "so I was about 10? Anyway, I was a pretty jumpy kid and Lance had the brilliant idea of gathering all of his siblings and me for a horror movie night." He explained.

"At least you recognise it for the great idea it was now." Lance muttered good-naturedly. Hunk pushed him into Shiro lightly. He laughed as he sat back up.

"Hush, you." Hunk chided, grinning all the same. "So we stayed up all night watching every horror movie Lance and his crazy family owned then spent the next day making up scary stories and trying to scare each other all day. Lance offered to walk me home that night because I was still pretty scared. We got halfway to my house when the bushes next to us started rustling and I..." He trailed off, embarrassed. Lance had no issue continuing for him.

"He bolted up the nearest tree!" He cackled gleefully. Pidge burst out laughing and the other three managed to hold back their laughter but were smiling like idiots, even Keith. " _Dios_ , I have never seen him move that fast before!" Lance was howling with laughter. Hunk shoved him against Shiro again, a little harder than before, but Lance didn't seem to mind and Hunk was laughing alongside them. Shiro helped Lance sit back up.

"Unfortunately," Hunk said once he got his laughter under control, "the tree had a few dead branches and I managed to pick one of them. It snapped underneath me and I fell out of the tree, barely missing Lance on my way down. I got a nasty cut on my arm that Lance's mum ended up stitching up for me when Lance dragged me back to his house once he realised I was hurt. So yeah, got a decent scar out of that."

"You haven't told them the best part." Lance half-chided, half-laughed and Hunk sighed defeatedly, though his lips curled in amusement.

"The thing that had scared me up that tree ended up being someone's lost rabbit." All of the laughter from Pidge and Lance that had died down was back up. Pidge was doubled-over, wheezing about Hunk being scared of rabbits. Lance wasn't in any better shape, tears of laughter rolling down his face as he teased Hunk good-naturedly. The bigger boy teased him back as he laughed at their reactions. Keith was once again rescued by Shiro, who was now explaining what a rabbit was.

"How about you go next, Keith?" Shiro suggested, wanting to give the three other Paladins a chance to calm down before Lance had to tell his story. Keith scowled at him but Shiro wasn't phased. The Red Paladin huffed gruffly when he realised he wasn't getting out of it.

"Fine." He said. At the sound of his voice, Hunk started shushing Lance and Pidge, who quietened down to listen. "I was nine. My dad went out to go help a friend with something and came back to find me climbing the side of our two-storey house. I'd gotten bored and that was the best thing I could come up with, apparently. Anyway, my dad yelled at me which startled me because I hadn't heard our truck pull up. I lost my grip and fell onto some old metal sheeting next to the house. I sliced myself open just under my ribs and ended up spending three days in hospital because the doctor's were worried about tetanus."

"Good to know you were always a reckless idiot." Lance commented with a smirk, causing Keith's hackles to rise but he didn't get the chance to snap back when Coran wanted to know more about this 'tetanus'. Lance, surprisingly, was the one to explain it.

"My Tío Carlos got it when he was working at a building site when I was five or six. I helped my mamá look after him." He told them when Pidge asked how he knew. "It is not a fun thing to go through. My Tío was lucky mamá was able to get him the vaccine he needed." Lance said, shuddering slightly at the memory.

"How about your story now, Lance?" Shiro asked, hoping the undoubtedly humorous story Lance would tell would lighten the mood a little. Lance nodded and leant up against Hunk as he thought about which one he would talk about.

"Oh! I've always been curious about the scar on your right leg. Why not tell us about that one?" Pidge asked and the effect of her question was immediate. Hunk tensed and squeezed Lance's upper arm almost painfully but the Cuban boy didn't seem to notice. His eyes had lost any humour and were instead filled with unimaginable pain and grief.

"How about another time?" Lance said, voice shaking slightly as he tried to act like his normal self. Allura and Coran seemed to realise something was wrong and Keith, unfortunately, didn't seem to get the message.

"What? Worried it'll affect your reputation?" Keith snarked and recoiled in shock when Lance's gaze hit him. The amount of anger and hate in those eyes would've made anyone cower.

"I said 'another time'." Lance snarled before catching himself. Hunk squeezed his arm again and Lance took a deep, shaky breath before making his face blank and taking his turn to answer the question. "When I was seven, before we moved to America, I was swimming on a small stretch of beach my family went to all the time. I was out pretty far and a rogue wave caught me by surprise. It dragged me underwater and I resurfaced only to be slammed back-first into a wall of rocks, slicing my shoulder open. My older brother, Luis, had seen me go under and knew something was wrong. He got to me before I was dragged under again and swam me back to the shore before taking me home so mamá could patch me up. Got a dozen stitches." He said, completely devoid of any emotion and not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Lance-" Pidge started but Lance stood abruptly.

"I gotta go check on Blue." He said, halfway to the door before he even finished speaking, leaving behind a stunned and confused team. Except for Hunk. He was sitting forward, head down and body language screaming 'sad and pained'.

"What did I do?" Keith asked, honestly clueless as to what he'd done to cause that reaction. It wasn't like it was the first time he'd teased the Blue Paladin like that. Shiro couldn't say anything. He didn't know what had happened; he just knew his teammate was really upset. He went to go follow him but Hunk beat him to it.

"He's not- he's not angry at any of you." Hunk explained, still not meeting their eyes. "He's just... That question just wasn't something he wasn't prepared for. He doesn't let anyone see that scar for this reason. If you haven't seen it, you wouldn't ask about it." Pidge whimpered a little.

"Hunk, I'm sor-" Hunk shook his head at her.

"No, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know not to- you didn't know." Hunk said, bereavement in his voice and Shiro had a horrible feeling. "I'll go talk to him. Just... stay here until I get back. I'll tell you what I can than." Hunk said before nearly running in the direction Lance went, obviously anxious to get to his side.

"What do we do?" Allura asked. She recognised the way Lance had acted and she hoped with all her heart she was wrong. Shiro was still staring at the door the two Paladins had disappeared through.

"We wait here until Hunk comes back." He said.

* * *

 

Hunk didn't bother going to the Lions. He knew Lance had only said that in case the team decided to follow him. He headed straight for his own room and sure enough, he found his best friend sitting on his bed, knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped tightly around them. Hunk's heart broke a little as he listened to the sobbing Lance was trying to muffle. He sat down and pulled Lance's arms from around his knees and dragged his best friend into his lap and let him cry into his shoulder, arms now tight around his neck, while Hunk made soothing noises.

" _Lo siento_." Lance whispered after a few minutes, voice cracking as more tears tried to roll down his cheeks only to be stopped by Hunk's vest. "I'm sorry." He repeated in English but Hunk made a disapproving sound.

"Don't you dare apologise for this. You just let me smother you with my Hunk-Hug until you're feeling better." Hunk demanded, earning himself a weak chuckle. He counted it as a small victory. It took a few more minutes of Hunk's careful rocking, his fingers smoothing over Lance's hair, his soothing humming, before Lance slowly pulled away, wiping his cheeks furiously.

"I'm sorry." He said again. "I shouldn't have snapped at them like that. They didn't know." He stared mournfully at the door leading out of the room. Hunk wrapped one of his meaty arms around Lance's shoulders and pulled him in tight.

"You don't need to apologise. But..." Hunk trailed off, not wanting to voice his suggestion.

"What?" Lance asked, almost afraid. Hunk sighed.

"Maybe- maybe you should tell them?" He suggested and Lance was already shaking his head furiously, pulling himself out of Hunk's grasp and standing.

"No. No. I can't, Hunk. _Por favor_." He begged and Hunk stood back up, grabbing Lance by his shoulders and tried to get him to calm down.

"I know what I'm asking. I know you don't want to talk about it. I don't want you too but, Lance," he made Lance look at him and almost cried at the teary, broken-hearted blue eyes that looked back. "I think you need to. We're going to be stuck here for who knows how long and eventually something will be said or done and this, " he gestured to the two of them "will happen again because they won't know what to avoid." He said and Lance heaved in a shuddering breath.

"I know you're right. I know. But this is- I don't even talk to mamá about this." Lance whispered, more tears spilling over and Hunk wiped them away.

"You should. When we get back, you should talk to them." Hunk said before getting back on topic. "If you don't want to tell them, I can do it for you." Hunk offered, wanting to spare Lance any pain he could but Lance was already shaking his head, hiccuping softly as he forced himself to calm down.

"No. I'll - I'll do it. Just give me a minute?" He asked and Hunk nodded, letting Lance go as he went into the Yellow Paladin's bathroom to clean himself up a bit. A few minutes later he came back out and hesitated in front of the door before forcing himself to open it and walking out. Hunk was right behind him, a comforting presence for him to lean on if he needed too.

* * *

 

Everyone was where Hunk had left them, though Pidge had moved closer to Shiro. They all look up as the two Paladin's enter the room and their eyes widen slightly as they take in Lance's puffy red eyes. He had obviously been crying. Nobody moved as they sat down, Hunk in the corner and Lance squeezed up as tightly next to him as possible. He wasn't looking at any of them.

"I'm sorry for how I reacted before." Lance finally said and bowled over any attempts to speak. "I shouldn't have snapped at either of you, Keith and Pidge, because you didn't know why that question would cause that reaction." He looked at each of them briefly before looking back at his hands. "Hunk says I should tell what happened so this doesn't happen again and because it'd be good for me to talk about it." He says and Shiro immediately jumps in.

"Lance, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. It's clearly a sensitive subject and I don't want you forcing yourself to talk about it when you clearly don't want to." Shiro tells him but Lance shook his head.

"No. You need to know. And Hunk is right; I need to talk about it. Maybe then you'll see what kind of person I am." He mutters but no one got the chance to ask what he meant, or in Hunk's case, protest, before he started speaking again. "I've told you all about practically every single family member I know about; my mamá and papá, my two older brothers, Luis and Markus, and my two younger sisters, Rosa and Veronica, plus my extended family. I haven't told you about Rachel, my older sister. She was my twin sister, actually, but she was born first and therefore was the oldest and she never passed an opportunity to remind me." Shiro's horrible feeling amplified and Pidge was quick to catch onto Lance's wording.

"Lance..." She whispered but Lance ignored her.

"Growing up, we were typical twins. Completely inseparable. We got in trouble together, we played soccer together, we played dress-up together, we got yelled at by our mamá together. We even had our own language when we were younger. We used to drive mamá up the wall." Lance chuckled sadly. "When we were six, Rachel begged mamá to sign her up for a local dance class. They taught a bit of ballet, hip hop, jazz, some ballroom, whatever, and Rachel wanted to learn. So mamá signed her up and she took to it like a duck to water. After two or three sessions, her dance teacher asked mamá if I would be interested in learning. They needed more kids to participate so they didn't have to close down. Rachel begged me to join so I did." Lance paused for a moment before continuing. Not even Keith bothered to make a sound.

"Turns out I was really good at it. Picked up whatever style they threw at me. Rachel was the only one who could keep up and our teachers were delighted. We entered competitions and helped build the dance schools reputation up so more kids would join. We moved to America when we were nine but we signed up to a new school and continued learning dance. We continued dancing and competing. We were really, really good. Mine and Rachel's names were fairly well-known at local competitions. We were the dancing team to beat. Rachel absolutely loved it." His smile turned sad as he continued. "That's all she ever wanted to be; a dancer. It was her dream to dance professionally all over the world. I didn't really want to but we were a great team and I didn't want my sister's dream to suffer just because I didn't want to be a dancer. I couldn't do that to her and I was good so I stayed with it." Lance shrugged a little and heaved another shuddering breath. Hunk curled an arm around him and squeezed a little.

"You're alright." Hunk whispered and Lance nodded.

" _Gracias_." He whispered back before speaking again. "Two weeks before... we were sitting up on our rooftop. We were four months away from our 16th birthday. We'd snuck out to do so and were just staring up at the sky, waiting for mamá to notice we were gone and start hollering at us in Spanish to get back in the house. I don't know why but Rachel turned to me and asked me what I would do if I could anything in the whole world. I told her I'd go see the stars. I'd find new planets and bring home weird Alien things as presents. I told her I'd find new constellations and name them after family members before some stupid professor named them something dumb, like they did ours. She laughed at me and I asked her what she would do and she told me she had no idea because she was already doing what she wanted to do with the person she wanted to do it with the most." Tears had started falling down Lance's cheeks again and he tried to wipe them away.

"Lance, you're doing good." Hunk told him and he nodded, choking down a sob.

"The morning this happened," he twitched his right leg, "Rachel was so angry. She could be as scary as mamá when she wanted to be and she was that morning. I had slept in past my alarm and we were running late to dance class. I remember I didn't get the chance to eat that morning because Rachel was pulling me out of the door as soon as I had my shoes on. Mamá yelled at us from the porch and we told her we loved her and we'd see her at lunchtime. I challenged Rachel to a race and we sprinted the rest of the way, stopping once we were opposite the building class was held in. Rachel won and was gloating while we caught our breath. Some of our friends saw us and were yelling at us to hurry up so I grabbed Rachel by the hand and was dragging her across the street. I don't remember the car hitting us. The last thing I remember was Rachel pushing me." Lance said and he heard the gasps from the team and soft sobs from Pidge, which she was trying to smother. He risked a glance up and had to look back down at the overwhelming emotion he saw on the other's faces. Allura and Coran looked ready to cry. Pidge was actively crying and both Keith and Shiro had a few small tear tracks. Lance had given up wiping his own tears away and he could feel Hunk crying behind him.

"When I came to in the hospital, I had my leg in a cast and my head was pounding. The nurse attending me saw I was awake and gave me the saddest smile when she administered more drugs to knock me out again. When I woke back up, my mamá and the doctor were standing at the foot of my bed, talking softly about something. I was going to go back to sleep but I heard Rachel's name and I remembered being with her right before. So I asked for her. Mamá was immediately at my side while the doctor looked me over. I kept asking mamá for Rachel, asking where she was, asking the doctor if she was alright, when could I see her? Mamá couldn't speak, she was sobbing so hard. The doctor had to tell me. Rachel was dead." It wasn't the first time Lance had said it out loud but it never got any easier. He sobbed but pulled himself together to keep going. Shiro looked like he wanted to wrap Lance in a hug and never let him go. "I had to be sedated. I didn't take it well. I was convinced they were lying to me and I kept trying to leave to go find her. When the sedation wore off, my papá was there and he had to tell me all over again because I couldn't remember. He had to tell me that she was dead, that half my soul was gone forever, because I got her killed." The self-loathing and hate in his voice in those last four words shocked everyone except Hunk.

"Lance, you know that's not true. No one blames you for it. Rachel wouldn't blame you either." Hunk told him and Lance shook his head.

"It was my fault! I made us late that morning and I dragged her across the street without looking! I killed her!" He shouted and Hunk wrapped both of his arms around him and Lance sobbed into his shoulder once again. Shiro went to move but Hunk shook his head. Everyone was watching Lance with worry, all wanting to do something but not knowing what.

"He's not done yet." Hunk told them and they looked stricken.

"He doesn't have to-" Keith said but Lance had calmed himself down enough by then to answer.

"I do. I need to tell you everything." He gasped, wiping his eyes futilely. "The worst part was finding out she didn't die immediately. She'd pushed me out of the way enough that all I got was a broken leg and knocked out. The doctor I asked told me the paramedics had told them that she had been calling for me as she lay there. She wanted to know I was okay, that she managed to get me out of the way quick enough but I couldn't answer her. Even though the people who were on the scene told her I was alive, I was breathing, she kept calling for me. I couldn't even let her hear my voice before she died. The ambulance that took her to the hospital radioed in a minute before they arrived that she had no pulse. They couldn't get her back." He whispered before continuing. "The boy who hit us had only had his license for a month. He's still in therapy and refuses to drive a car ever again, from what I heard." They couldn't imagine the horror Lance or the driver had gone through.

"I applied for the Garrison the day the hospital released me." Lance said, steeling his nerves to just keep going. "We had her funeral a couple of days after that. I couldn't say anything. I didn't speak to anyone there, not even to Hunk or mamá. I don't think it really hit me that she was gone until a month later. Someone said her name and I just... broke. My family gathered around me, gave me hugs, told me they loved me and didn't blame me; told me Rachel loved me and wouldn't blame me either." His voice told them he didn't believe those words. Hunk gave him another squeeze, which Lance appreciated more than the other boy would ever know.

"Hunk was a rock through it all. He helped me with my schoolwork, he helped me write to me dance teacher and tell her I would no longer be taking lessons. He applied for the Garrison when I told him I had, telling me I'd need an engineer when I argued he didn't have to. He answered every time I called at some stupid hour in the morning because I'd had another nightmare or because losing Rachel hit me all over again. We found out we got into the Garrison together and he sat next to me when I told my family I didn't want to celebrate my birthday that year." He told them. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that I don't think I'd be here at all if Hunk hadn't been there. He listened to me, listened to everything I said. He let me be angry at myself, at the driver, at the dance teacher, at Rachel for dying. He didn't try and pretend everything would be alright, like my family did. I know they were doing their best and they were grieving too but how they were dealing with it wasn't working for me." He heard their horrified gasps at what he was implying. He ignored them and didn't meet their eyes, afraid of seeing disappointment in them.

"We told my family together we'd gotten into the Garrison. Mamá and papá didn't want me to go. They thought it was too soon after Rachel. But I couldn't stay there knowing that every morning I'd have to look at her empty room right across from mine, door left open because she left it open, with everything exactly how she'd left it. It made me think she was going to walk through our front door, yell out she was home and come up to tell me everything that had happened that day that I didn't already know about. I couldn't do it. I couldn't stay there. I left." He ground out. "Mamá called me every day for a month before I answered. She told me she wasn't mad, she knew I was hurting and if this was how I wanted to try and cope, she'd support me through it. Papá told me he was proud of me getting in and that Rachel would be as well. We spoke nearly every day after that. We never spoke about Rachel and I never brought her up to anyone at the Garrison. Hunk was the only person there who knew and would talk with me about her when we were alone. If the teachers or higher-ups knew, they never said anything. My parents were trying to convince me to come home for my birthday and I told them I'd think about it. We found Blue a week before my birthday." Lance said and he felt Blue finally break through the barrier he'd put up against their bond. Her warmth and love nearly overwhelmed him. "So now you know how I got that scar." He refused to look at the leg in question, picturing the scar on it but he didn't look up. He didn't need to see the hate and disappointment in their eyes.

"I am so, so sorry, Lance." Pidge choked out, voice strangled by her sobs. " I shouldn't have asked you about it. What happened to Rachel was so horrible, I can't even imagine what you're going through and I am so sorry I brought those memories back." She sobbed again and, at Lance's gesture, clambered into his lap so the Blue Paladin could wrap her up in a hug.

"It's okay, Pidge. You didn't know. That's why I told everyone." He whispered into her hair, tears making it damp.

"I'm sorry, too." Keith said, refusing to wipe away any stray tears. Lance looked up at him in surprise. "It was obvious to everyone except me that Pidge's question had hit a sensitive topic and I shouldn't have made that stupid remark." He looked so angry at himself.

"Don't worry about it, Keith. You didn't know." Lance tried to assure the Red Paladin but Keith was already dismissing his apology.

"No, I didn't but that didn't give me the right to say what I did when you clearly didn't want to talk about it. So I'm sorry." His glare dared Lance to try and argue with him.

"Thanks." Lance said, to tired to argue any more. "It's okay, though. I'm not mad. Not at you." Lance told him. Hunk and Pidge tightened their holds on him.

"I am sorry as well." Allura said, delicately wiping her cheeks. "I am so sorry you lost someone so close to you and at such a young age." She told him sincerely.

"Me too, my boy." Coran said before Lance could speak. "Losing someone so dear to you isn't something I'd wish on anyone, let alone you. Losing someone in such a senseless accident the way you did isn't something I'd wish on my worst enemy." Coran told him, eyes shimmering with new tears.

"Lance," Shiro got his attention, "what happened to Rachel was a horrible, senseless accident, like Coran said. I know you've probably been told that a million times but it was. You are not to blame for her death. I would trade anything I could so you wouldn't have to suffer like this." He told him and Lance knew was somehow able to sympathise on a level no one could unless they'd been through something very similar. "Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us about what happened. I am so sorry you lost Rachel. I am so sorry you have to keep reliving that loss in your nightmares. If you ever need someone to talk to, no matter what time or what I'm doing, I will be there for you." Shiro told him adamantly and Lance couldn't handle it any more.

He started crying again. He was honestly surprised he even had tears left at this point. But none of them blamed him. None of them thought he should've been more careful, that it was because of his foolishness that his sister was dead. Shiro moved over and lifted Pidge up slightly so she was on his lap so he could sneak his Galran hand between Hunk and Lance and wrap Pidge and Lance into a hug. Keith looked a little lost, wanting to join but not knowing id he was wanted. Hunk gestured for him to come closer, snatching his hand and pulling the Red Paladin onto his lap in one swift movement. Once Keith gathered himself up, he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Lance from behind, threading his arms in between Shiro and Pidge to do so. Allura sat next to Shiro, running her finger through Lance's fringe while Coran knelt on the ground and ran his fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. They all held on tightly as he cried, all willing to be there to help him put himself back together.

"Lance," Coran spoke once the Blue Paladin had calmed down enough he could hear him, "I think I speak for everyone when I say this but when you're ready, I'd love to hear more about Rachel and what she was like." Lance whimpered slightly but pulled his head out from where he'd tucked it into Pidge's hair.

"Yeah." He said, feeling Blue's encouragement and love wash over him, calming him down a little more. "I think I'd like that too."


End file.
